Learn how Kiwi businesses can identify, address and recover from manual penalties caused by toxic backlinks.
If you’ve noticed a sudden drop in your website traffic or rankings, you might be facing one of a business owner’s worst digital nightmares – a Google penalty. For Kiwi businesses, where the digital marketplace is increasingly competitive, recovering from such a setback is crucial to maintaining online visibility and customer engagement.
When Google issues a penalty, it’s essentially telling you that something about your site violates their guidelines. Among the most common culprits are toxic backlinks – those questionable connections from other websites that Google views as manipulative attempts to game the system. And while the rules of SEO are universal, the way these penalties affect businesses in our relatively small New Zealand market can be particularly challenging.
The good news is that recovery is possible. Let’s explore how you can identify if you’ve been penalised, address the underlying issues, and restore your site’s standing with Google.
Before diving into recovery strategies, you need to confirm whether you’re actually dealing with a penalty. There’s a difference between algorithmic fluctuations and manual penalties, with the latter being more serious and requiring specific remedial actions.
The most reliable way to check for a manual penalty is through Google Search Console (GSC). Log in to your account and navigate to the “Manual Actions” section under “Security & Manual Actions.” If there’s a penalty, you’ll see a red alert detailing the issues Google has identified. Often, these will specify if toxic backlinks are the problem, using terms like “unnatural links to your site” or “unnatural outbound links.”
Even without access to GSC, there are warning signs to watch for. Has your organic traffic taken a nosedive? Have your key pages disappeared from search results? Try searching for your site using the operator “site.co.nz” – if nothing shows up, you might be dealing with a severe penalty.
For many NZ businesses I’ve worked with, the first sign of trouble was when their phones stopped ringing or online enquiries dropped off dramatically. This connection between online visibility and real-world business outcomes is particularly direct in our market, where word of mouth and online discovery are closely linked.
Toxic backlinks come in various forms, and understanding what makes them problematic is essential to effective cleanup. These undesirable links typically originate from:
New Zealand businesses often face unique challenges with backlinks. Our smaller market means there are fewer local linking opportunities, which sometimes leads to seeking links from overseas sources that may be less relevant or even harmful. Additionally, many Kiwi businesses operate in specific regional markets (think Northland tourism operators or Southland agricultural services), making irrelevant links from unrelated regions or industries particularly suspicious in Google’s eyes.
Recovering from a Google penalty requires a systematic approach. Here’s a practical roadmap to guide you through the process:
Start by gathering a complete picture of your backlink profile. Tools like Semrush’s Backlink Audit, Ahrefs, or Moz can help you compile this data. Look for patterns of suspicious links – are there sudden spikes in link acquisition? Do you have an unusual number of links from overseas domains with no connection to your business?
Don’t just look at domain authority metrics; consider the context and relevance of each linking site. A link from a small local industry association might be more valuable than one from a high-authority but irrelevant international site.
Once you have your data, categorise links based on their risk level. Look for:
Before resorting to disavowal, try to get toxic links removed at the source. Google prefers this approach, which may lead to a faster recovery. Create a spreadsheet of contact information for webmasters and send polite, professional removal requests.
Be prepared for limited success here – many webmasters will ignore your requests or ask for payment. Document all your attempts, as this evidence of good-faith effort can be valuable when submitting a reconsideration request.
For links you couldn’t get removed, creating a disavow file is your next step. This tells Google to ignore these links when assessing your site. Through Google Search Console, you can upload a text file listing the URLs or domains you want disavowed.
Be careful here – accidentally disavowing good links can harm your SEO. When in doubt about a link’s quality, it’s often better to leave it out of your disavow file.
If you’ve received a manual action, you’ll need to submit a reconsideration request through GSC after addressing the issues. This is your opportunity to explain:
Be thorough and transparent. Google reviewers appreciate detailed information about your remediation efforts.
Recovery isn’t a one-time effort. Set up regular backlink audits (quarterly is a good rhythm for most businesses) to catch potentially toxic links before they become problematic. Consider creating Google Alerts for your brand name to monitor where it’s being mentioned and linked online.
A New Zealand business I worked with discovered that their penalty stemmed from an overseas SEO company they’d briefly hired, which had built hundreds of irrelevant directory links. After a thorough cleanup process and documentation of their situation, Google lifted their penalty within three weeks. Their rankings didn’t immediately return to previous levels, but gradually improved over the following months as Google recrawled and reassessed their site.
The best way to deal with Google penalties is to avoid them entirely. Focus on building a natural backlink profile through:
Remember that in our relatively small market, personal relationships often lead to the most valuable backlink opportunities. The link from a respected industry peer or a mention in a local business publication carries both SEO value and real-world credibility.
By understanding what makes backlinks toxic, regularly monitoring your link profile, and focusing on quality over quantity in your link-building efforts, you can maintain a healthy website that stays on the right side of Google’s guidelines.
Through diligence and adherence to best practices, your Kiwi business can not only recover from penalties but build a stronger, more resilient online presence for the long term.
References
Google Search Central. “Link Spam Policies.” https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/link-schemes
Google Search Central. “Manual Actions Report.” https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9044175
Semrush. “A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Google Penalties.” https://www.semrush.com/blog/google-penalty/
Search Engine Journal. “How to Recover from a Google Penalty.” https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-penalty-recovery/339103/
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